August 18, 2015
To the Honorable
Members of
The Illinois House
of Representatives
99th General
Assembly:
Today I return House Bill 3324 with
specific recommendations for change in order to clarify the obligations imposed
on the Department of Human Services.
The Department distributes benefits to
Illinoisans under the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
and Medicaid assistance. Residents rely on these benefits every day in order to
provide for their families.
This bill proposes that the Department
collect “employment information” from applicants in their application for
benefits and then compile this information into an annual report submitted to
the General Assembly. The bill leaves “employment information” undefined; it is
entirely unclear what that this information may be. The Department already
compiles data on each applicant’s employment income. It is not clear how
collecting employers’ names or other information will improve the Department’s
ability to distribute benefits.
The bill also does not articulate how
this sort of data collection might improve the Department’s services or
Illinoisans’ wellbeing. Because the bill would impose a significant burden on
the Department, it is necessary to address this threshold issue. It is clear
that the Department would need to gather a massive amount of data and create a
special program to capture this new data. This will take away time and
resources from implementation of SNAP and Medicaid benefits and would also impose
additional costs on the State.
Therefore, pursuant to Article IV,
Section 9(e) of the Illinois Constitution of 1970, I hereby return House Bill
3324, entitled “AN ACT concerning public aid”, with the following specific
recommendations for change:
On page 1, line 9, by replacing “employment information”, to “amount
of employment income”; and
On page 1, line 13, by replacing “employment information”, to “amount
of employment income”.
With these changes, House Bill 3324 will
have my approval. I respectfully request your concurrence.
Sincerely,
Bruce Rauner
GOVERNOR